BOSTON — The Celtics last lost four games over six from Mar. 3-13, 2023, one of many stretches through an overall excellent regular season that showed the seeds of an east finals meltdown. When Joe Mazzulla and players looked back at their year, down 0-3 in late May, they admitted the team lost its defensive identity.
This is a different roster, season and situation. Mazzulla assumed the head coaching role days before that training camp, tried to change things on both ends on the fly and suffered multiple significant injuries along the way. This group, facing defensive inconsistency earlier in the year, couldn’t shake off Zach LaVine’s outburst earlier this month, the breakdown late in their letdown at Orlando or the problems that plagued them on Christmas.
In another defeat, 123-114, to Indiana on Sunday following what looked like a get right game on Friday, the Pacers outscored their transition total from the first game by halftime, dominated the paint and finished 52.9% from the field.
“We gotta get back to emphasizing the defensive side of the ball. It’s kind of slipped over the last few games,” Jaylen Brown said. “Our intensity and teams are pressuring us and being physical with us. We gotta do some of the same stuff to them … we’ve had some great moments this season and maybe some comfort has slipped in. I mean offensively, we’re fine. I just think defensively, we gotta find ways to get more stops and be more consistent protecting the basket, helping each other, communicating and we just haven’t emphasized that enough.”
The Celtics flipped Brown and Tatum’s minutes after playing them together for the entire first quarter on Friday, allowing Brown to return to a play-making role with mixed results. The Pacers threw extra defenders at him, which freed Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard for consecutive threes that gave Boston its first lead. Brown and Al Horford attacked the basket after the Celtics took 10 of their first 12 attempts from three in the opening minutes and finding little success. The threes then came in droves for Brown, too, who split 2-of-4, but as the game progressed, Boston’s efficiency dipped from 37% at halftime to 29.6% at the final buzzer. They needed to rely on their defense and never could.
Tatum didn’t take a two until late in the second quarter after missing four three-pointers. He started 1-of-8, 0-of-6 from three. Horford picked up a pair of first quarter fouls and the Pacers turned Brown over twice to re-take the lead. Mazzulla mentioned that the Celtics committed 22 fouls, sending the Pacers to the line 27 times, while trying to force turnovers.
Indiana held an 11-point lead less than five minutes in on their way to a 9-for-11 start, Pascal Siakam beating Boston inside four times while Andrew Nembhard lost Brown in the post and pulled-up for a practice shot. Later, after the Celtics piled up stops by forcing Jarace Walker to shoot the ball, Thomas Byrant entered and flushed put-back and transition dunks to take a 35-32 lead early in the second quarter. The Pacers took only 23 threes in their win, which Brown noted could’ve allowed Boston to help at the basket more often.
“Tendencies is one thing,” Brown said. “But it’s a lot different when you’re out there and they’re coming at you full speed, especially a team like Indiana. It seems like they got a lot of layups because we weren’t recognizing where we could help from. They didn’t shoot a lot of threes, so that means they shouldn’t have gotten so many layups. We could’ve protected the basket a little better.”
The Pacers shot above 60% from the field late into the third quarter with attempts by the Celtics’ to change matchups, switch one-through-five with Neemias Queta and try Jordan Walsh on Tyrese Haliburton and Nembhard proving unsuccessful. Luke Kornet’s minutes gave them four blocks, probably their best look, but Horford returned for the stretch run.
Pritchard scored back-to-back threes and a post finish on his way to a 7-for-9 start to cut Boston’s deficit to three in the second, but Walker answered with three baskets of his own before Nembhard scored five straight late in the frame to secure a 65-58 halftime lead. Into the third, Indiana’s offensive onslaught continued, starting 9-of-13 before Tatum blocked Myles Turner from behind at the rim.
Boston tried playing Tatum on Turner in the second half, which worked wonders late in the east finals, but quick whistles on the Celtics’ physicality sent Indiana to the free throw line 10 times in the frame. The final two came on a frustration foul by Tatum on TJ McConnell 90 feet from the rim that put the Pacers ahead by 10 entering the fourth.
The Celtics had stayed close all night with their shooting until a 1-for-10 stretch from three, turnovers and transition lapses led the Celtics’ bench to the scorer’s table with Indiana ahead by 15 late in the fourth. Bryant had broken their drop look with Kornet cutting back line for a dunk, Mathurin stole the ball from Pritchard and scored a three-point play on the break before adding another layup on the break to push Indiana ahead by 11.
Brown and Tatum went to the post for and-one finishes alongside Horford’s first three after eight misses to briefly slash the lead to 105-103, then Haliburton and Ben Sheppard answered with three straight makes the other way that encapsulated Boston’s defense performance. Indiana stayed above 50% shooting all night, while the Celtics faded to 22.2% 3PT in the second half — trying 54 in the loss.
“We got a tough stretch coming in January,” Brown said. “We don’t have time to hang our head. We just gotta get up and be ready for that … we haven’t had as much intensity and effort as we’ve needed. That’s pretty much it.”
- Mazzulla said before the game that Holiday and Porzingis are getting better every day, but wouldn’t provide specific details on their timetable or the seriousness of their shoulder and ankle ailments, respectively. Holiday missed his third straight game and sixth overall. Porzingis, ruled out earlier in the afternoon than most players labeled questionable are, sat out a second straight night following his sprain on Christmas. I’m told their injuries aren’t considered serious.
